THE LINCOLN PREMIER O/U & UGARTECHEA S/S.410 SHOTGUNS

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1 THE LINCOLN PREMIER O/U & UGARTECHEA S/S.410 SHOTGUNS Shooting the brilliant Lincoln Premier O/U ejector.410. Although probably the most misunderstood of all shotguns the.410 has finally come of age. The arrival of decent ammunition and guns with correct choke choices and shot sizes it has proved to be a revelation. After all, it is the pellets that do the work and not the calibre of the gun. As long as a pattern of sufficient density and individual pellet energy can be placed on the bird a kill will result. With some European.410 shotguns at least, there seems to have been a tendency to deliver guns that are not multi-choked with an entirely excessive amount of restriction at the muzzles. I have measured guns with in excess of 30 thou of choke that were alleged to be full choke barrels; this is an absolute nonsense. Even with the poorest quality ammunition about 20 thou must be recognised as about the absolute maximum, much more than this actually increases the spread of the charge and gives very poor distribution. The mangling and outright distortion of the pellets with these heavy restrictions is clearly counterproductive. Using a handy calculation that I came up with some time ago it is straightforward to determine the amount of restriction required for a given performance with a.410. For the half choke range if the bore size in inches is divided by 45 for full length plastic wads, with 37 for the reversible plastic wads without protection from bore scrubbing and fibre wadding. Figures for a.410 standard bore size at.415 inch Half Choke practical restrictions for various wad combinations. Fibre and reversible cushion wad factor: divided by 37 =11.2 thou of choke. Full length plastic wad factor: divided by 45 =9.2 thou of choke For a practical quarter choke restriction the wad factors are 73 and 85 thus: Fibre & reversible cushion wads factor: divided by 73 =5.7 thou of choke..415 inch bore diameter Full length plastic container wad factor: divided by 85 =4.9 thou of choke.

2 EG for an oversized bore of say.425inches the Quarter choke restriction figure for Half choke and a fibre or reversible plastic wad would be: 425 divided by the wad factor of 37=11.5 thou. If however hard shot containing 5% or higher antimony is used when using fibre or reversible wads the choke required will be very similar to the figures shown for the full length plastic container wads and 3% antimony shot. Consequently the patterns thrown by 5% antimony shot with the full-length plastic wads will be considerably tighter than those with 3%. EG My over and under has a bore size of.417 inch and personally regulated fixed chokes of 7 & 9 thou (about a third & half). Fiochhi 3 inch magnum loads with Italian 8 shot of 2.3mm diameter with 5% antimony throw patterns more akin to a tight three quarter choke from the half choke top barrel. When used with fibre or reversible wads and 9 shot for clay shooting with #8 or 9 shot the patterns open up to about one quarter and one third, which is about right to guarantee consistent breaks on skeet doubles. In the three inch chambered gun this can be pursued still further by loading 14gram ½ ounce loads at a higher velocity than normal to advantage where circumstances allow. For game shooting chokes should be a little tighter and larger shot should be such as UK #7 or #6 ( mm) containing 4-5% antimony, together with a full length plastic wad. The bigger the shot the tighter the choke will have to be within reason to maintain adequate pattern density. However the pressure characteristics of the load will play a part with regard to the actual numbers of fliers or otherwise damaged pellets that have been driven to the extreme edges of the pattern. In actual use UK #7 shot is by far the best choice even for pheasants, without the need for excessive choke making hits below 30yards very difficult indeed. The Ugartechea.410 boxlock ejector 3inch magnum & 26inch barrels

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4 Two very different.410 s. With the Spanish made Ugartechea side by side test gun the barrels were labelled half and full measuring 10 thou for the right which is a good for half choke in the.410 with the left barrel at measuring 23 thou for a tight full choke. This little gun brought back some very pleasant memories for me, having been my first proper shotgun back in 1973 and on its first outing I shot three flighting pigeons with it in very short order! It is very well balanced and flies to the shoulder and is a delight to carry with its low weight of 5lbs. 8ozs. Shooting magnums was not a problem from the recoil standpoint and it is a very good gun for game shooting especially with my new heavy 3/4oz (21.25gm) 3inch pet hand loads. It is clearly well made and put together, with the ejectors certainly doing sterling work even with 3inch plastic cases. The Lincoln Premier over and under carried half in the bottom and full choke in the top barrel. The Lincoln Premier.410 has enormous potential making an excellent sporting gun in.410 gauge which is definitely getting more popular these days. I liked the gun very much indeed and being built on the 28 gauge action, feel that this combination of weight and balance is just about perfect for an over and under in this gauge at 6lbs 9 ozs, helping to maintain an even swing on longer crossing birds. In addition to the factory loads my own heavy hunting loads were tried with excellent results on everything from Pigeons and Crows to fast running Rabbits and Squirrels. With a full house payload of 21gm) of shot these shells really are just the ticket for maximum hunting potential. I load with either UK#5, 6 or 7 shot depending on the occasion (2.8, 2.6 & 2.4mm). However for situations where the likely quarry is undetermined UK#6 seems to be a good compromise, dropping big crows with authority out to full distances for this type of gun. Cock pheasants have also been cleanly killed using UK#6 with the 21gm load, using ½ and ¾ choke (10-15thousandths of an inch restriction) for shots from yards. The Lincoln Premier.410 over and under ejector (28bore action). Also available with a pair of 28bore barrels to special order 28, 30 or32inches.

5 Importer: David Nickerson of Louth Available from Donaldsons Gunsmiths and other quality outlets. Because It s there the comprehensive.410 manual by Tim Woodhouse 30 inc P&P Call or nicolasmedia@btopenworld.com Also from Tideline books